FINDSPARK COMMUNITY SUCCESS STORIES

Mohammad Bolatero, Digital Marketing / Social Media Intern at Two TreesCommunity member and Hustle Summit Fellow Mohammad found out about the internship at Two Trees through the FindSpark job board. He applied and eventually got the job!

September 29, 2016

Kaila Kane, PR Intern at ASTRSKPR
Hustle Summit Fellow Kaila applied to ASTRSK PR through the FindSpark job board, and was offered an accelerated internship at the company with the potential to become an Assistant Account Executive. She says, "I started participating in FindSpark events/webinars in January, and two months later I can say that I've found a job and am officially moving to New York!"

March 22, 2017

Christina Waterman, Associate Producer for the Shorty Awards
Christina, a Hustle Summit Scholar, used the FindSpark job board to apply for a freelance position at the Shorty Awards and got the job! She was recently brought on full-time.

March 22, 2017

Matthew Reich, Film Marketing Intern at Allied Integrated Marketing
FindSpark member Matthew attended Hustle Summit in New York City, where he met with reps from Allied Integrated Marketing. He was later hired as their newest Film Marketing Intern!

April 4, 2017

Tiffany Hui, Content Manager, Global Emerging Accounts at BrandwatchTiffany attended Hustle Summit in New York City with her sister Melissa, a longtime member and Hustle Summit Fellow. She connected with Brandwatch at the event, and got the job a few months later!

April 4, 2017

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3D Printing, Beyond the Hype

Few things have gotten as much traction in the last year as 3D Printing. I’m no stranger to the trend with the purchase of my own desktop 3D printer last December. Having gotten familiar with this impressive technology, it has become very apparent that many issues have been wildly exaggerated. This was the subject of a recent panel I attended at the General Assemby called “3D Printing, Beyond the Hype.” Here are some of my thoughts and take-aways from the event.

3D Printing is not new.

Did you know that 3D printing (also known as Additive Manufacturing) has been around since the 1980s? It’s not new technology. In fact, the only reason we’ve seen so much about it in the last few years is that several patents on the technology have expired. There other patents expiring in the next year or two that will lead to some other forms of printing becoming available to the public besides the extrusion method that most consumer printers use today. Some new methods will use lasers and UV sensitive material to build objects.

Potential problems associated with 3D printing are over-exagerated.

It turns out that most of the fears that have developed around 3D printing, including printed guns or manufacturing job loss, are some of the most over-inflated issues of the day. On the subject of guns, here are a few facts: plastic printed guns have been made and successfully fired, but pale in comparison to the quality and reusability of real guns or even homemade guns. There is definitely a debate to be had on this issue and I don’t intend to make this post a platform for either side, but it’s worth a look from all angles.

Let’s look to a more economic issue, like these printing bots taking jobs away from humans. We’ve certainly seen this happen in movies and even, to a certain extent, in real life. Just check out the show “How It’s Made” and you’ll see what I mean. Be that as it may, 3D printing has not gotten to the point where people will be in danger of losing their jobs. One of the big reasons is that this technology is still best for rapid-prototyping, not full-scale assembly line manufacturing. In almost all cases, printing can only build with one or very few materials at a time. Also, it can’t reliably combine multiple components with multiple materials. Think of the phone in your pocket. It’s likely made up of dozens of materials and maybe even tens or hundreds of individual components. Maybe as the technology advances in the future these issues will be more pressing, but based on the evidence right now, it’s not worth it to panic.

On the more optimistic side, there is great potential innovation in additive manufacturing.

With the ability to make quick iterations on a physical design, designers are able to evolve an idea from a concept to a tangible, efficient working product. Designers are also able to build off of other designers’ work to introduce new ideas into an object to make it better. Along with this open designing, the tools to create 3D objects have gotten more intuitive and are allowing more people to take an active role in the designing process. Forget the 3D CAD programs that cost thousands of dollars. There are now several low/no cost options like the 3D application Blender or the web browser-based Tinkercad. Another great contribution of 3D printing is the fact that designs can get more complex without raising the cost. The only variable that ends up effecting cost is the amount of material used or the volume of the object. This opens up the possibilities for designs that were never feasible with more traditional forms of manufacturing.

Overall, I see a very positive future with 3D printing across a broad set of industries. There will be times where we’ll have to examine the technology more closely and make some tough decisions, but at the end of the day we can all say that we were there at the beginning of a modern-day technological revolution.

Where do you see 3D printing going? Are you excited or terrified by it? Drop us a line below.

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This post is sponsored by Eventbrite NYC. Eventbrite enables people all over the world to plan, promote, and sell out any event. It’s also a destination for people to discover awesome events going on in THEIR city! Whatever your desires, hobbies, or interests – from photography workshops and wine classes to food festival and industry conferences, there’s an event on Eventbrite for you to attend! Keep up on the goings-on in The City That Never Sleeps by following Eventbrite NYC on Twitter, or liking them on Facebook! Planning an event? Go ahead and create an account to get started.

Nick Hoefly is a 3D & Motion Graphics Animator and founder of Wonderbot Studios. He graduated from the University of Central Florida with a degree in Computer Animation and is a proud former intern of IDEAS Orlando, a production and new media studio. Nick's studio produces animated graphics and video for television and the web, a line of children's iPad apps and custom 3D printing for many different applications. You can follow him on Twitter (@NHoefly or @WonderbotStudio) or check out his studio's work at WonderbotStudios.com.

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FindSpark is a community dedicated to setting up young professionals for career success and connecting employers to top, diverse young professional talent.

Since forming in 2011, FindSpark has become the largest Meetup group for interns and recent grads in the country, hosting over 250 events for more than 25,000 members.

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